Tied
by Granger-Danger-62442
Summary: Because getting ready isn't always as simple as it looks.


So this is just a short oneshot based off of some drawings by ginalways on Tumblr. You can see them here: ginalways(dot)tumblr(dot)com/tagged/my+fangirl+art

(They're quite lovely, check them out!)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Castle in any way, shape, or form. Unless you count the DVDs. Then maybe that form.**

* * *

She opens the door to a very frazzled redhead.

"Oh!" The girl sags. "Kate! Thank God."

"Hey Alexis." The detective grins, moving forward into the loft and toeing off her shoes. "Running a little late?"

Alexis huffs out a breath, rolling her eyes. "It's not like it's _my_ fault. I'm completely ready. _That _one however," she jerks her head towards her dad's office. "Not so much."

"Problems?" Kate asks, watching in bemusement as the redhead flits around the living room anxiously.

"I just can't find my purse. Dad's the one with the problems. He takes _so_ much looking after. The last time I was in there, he was trying to decide on- Oh."

She stops, looking at Kate as if seeing her for the first time. A beat- and then the girl is turning towards her father's office yelling, "The purple one!"

A distant reply of, "Thanks pumpkin!" reaches them, and Kate shakes her head.

Deciding it best to just let it go, she returns to the problem at hand. ""Well, you still have time, right? The actual event doesn't start until eight."

"Yeah, yeah, we've got plenty of time." Alexis darts from place to place, her words trailing anxiously behind her. "It's just I promised Gram that I was going to get there early and help her finish organizing, and now I've got my dad to deal with, and this happens at _every event_…"

The rest of the sentence is cut off when she sticks her head into the coat closet, rummaging around loudly, and Kate can't help but let out a chuckle.

"I heard that!" Comes the indignant, albeit muffled response. "Sure, you think it's funny now! Wait 'til you've lived with it for 18 years- aha!" She pulls her head out, clutching the lost purse triumphantly. "Got it!"

She pauses at the thunderstruck look on Kate's face. "Hey you ok?"

"Oh, uhm…" She clears her throat, blinks rapidly against the onslaught of images, because they've only officially been together four months but it's really been four years in the making and they- she wants-

"Hey, Kate." The detective drags her attention back to the teenager, who's watching her knowingly. "Relax."

She sweeps past, bestowing a consolatory pat on the arm, and Kate is reminded once again that the theatric flair didn't just end with _her_ Castle. She lets out a breath, opening her mouth to reply-

"Besides," The girl adds, almost as an afterthought. "It's not like I was asking when I was getting siblings or anything _yeesh_."

The detective emits a strangled noise, her heart hammering. "Alexis-"

"So I'll see you two there in what, an hour? Mm'kay, don't be late!" With cheeky grin, Castle's daughter exits, leaving Kate blinking in her wake.

Alright then.

Still a little dazed, she makes her way towards Castle's office, storing that particular conversation away for later.

But not _too_ much later.

When she reaches it, the door to her partner's room is ajar. Nudging it open with her toe, she moves to call out, but a faint noise from the bathroom stops her.

Curious, Kate pads quietly towards it. Sticking her head around the doorframe, she smirks at the sight before her.

"So I hear you're having difficulties?"

Castle startles; so badly that the tie he'd been slowly working out of a knot jerks tight again. "Ugh," he groans. "Ka-ate."

She laughs, slides in behind him at his place before the mirror. Pushing up on her tiptoes, she rests her chin on his shoulder, catching his eye in the mirror.

He sticks his tongue out at her and she grins, pleased that she left her shoes at the front door.

"I wouldn't say _difficulties,_" he admits grudgingly. "More like a… disagreement?"

"With your tie."

He lets out an exasperated breath as another tug proves futile. "Ok yes, with the tie, I'm having tie problems. Satisfied?" But he's smiling.

Kate presses her lips together to keep from laughing outright.

"Here." She steps back, tugging on his arm to get him to face her. He's slow to oblige, still fiddling with the fabric, and she finally just bats his hands away. "Let me do it, or

we'll never leave on time."

It's with a heavy sigh that Castle finally acquiesces, dropping his hands down to his sides in defeat. "You know this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't scared me like that."

Kate scoffs. "Please. _This_," she pulls lightly on the garment, "was a lost cause long before I got here."

"I'd just like to point out that it's not entirely _my_ fault," he begins, as she sets to work on the offending fabric. "Alexis was rushing me, and mother wouldn't stop texting, and I couldn't find the right color…" he trails off, sighing.

"Hey." She catches his gaze. "What's got you so worked up?"

He huff, frowning slightly. "I don't know. I do this every year, I should be used to it by now right?"

She hums, but doesn't comment, letting him work it out.

"It's not that I'm nervous or anything. It's just…" Castle lets out a breath. "It's the first time you've come with me to one of these things."

Kate pauses, glancing up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Not true. I came to the first Nikki one, remember?"

"In that dress? How could I forget?" His attempted leer falls flat, and he raises his hand, moving to run it through his hair in a familiar gesture of agitation. Having seen him do it enough, she's able to snag his wrist before he can complete the action.

"Stop. You're going to mess up your hair, and then we _are_ completely screwed."

This, at least, earns her a smirk, and it also seems to snap him out of whatever funk he's fallen into. "Look," he continues. "I know it's not your first time in the spotlight and, despite my best efforts, it probably won't be the last. But I guess…" He sighs. "I guess I just want everything to go as smoothly as possible."

"So that's what you're worried about then." She queries. "Our first official, 'public' appearance?"

The corner of his mouth turns up in a self-deprecating smile. "Yeah I guess. Stupid huh?"

Fisting her hand in his tie, Kate tugs him down towards her, lifting up on her toes to press her mouth to his. He grunts in surprise, his hands coming up to cradle her face. She pulls back a moment later, slightly breathless. "Actually, I think it's kind of sweet."

Castle blinks at her. "Really?"

"Really." She smiles softly, reaching up to swipe her thumb across his bottom lip as he grins. "But if you tell anyone, I'll have to shoot you."

"Why Detective," he murmurs, crowding into her. "With that attitude, I might start thinking that you don't actually like having me around."

She trails his fingers across his chest lightly, grinning as his eyes darken. "Don't worry Castle, I think you're stuck with me."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." She slides her hands up to clutch at his shoulders, lifting so that her mouth is right next to his ear. "Someone has to help me with all that _paperwork_."

He growls, swallowing her laugh as he crushes his mouth to hers.

Kate hums into the kiss, one of her hands sliding into his hair to tug him closer. He obliges, nipping at her lip and then soothing it with his tongue. She moans softly, and Castle smirks- then she drags her tongue across the roof of his mouth and the noise he emits can't possibly come from a grown man.

His fingers delve into her hair, angling her just the right way as he slants his mouth over hers. She clutches at him just as fiercely, sliding her arm around his neck and tangling her tongue with his.

His hand dips under the hem of her dress, fingers dancing along her spine,

and _Oh-_

She arches into him, whimpering as his hips jerk roughly in response.

"What was that you said earlier about me messing up my hair?" He breathes, moving down to lave at her jumping pulse point.

She lets out a choked noise. "Right. My bad. Take full- ah", she gasps, "responsibility."

Castle slides his leg between hers, dragging his tongue along the seam of her mouth, and she jerks into him on a moan.

"Rick- can't- need to-" She trails off as his head drops to her neck, her hand clutching at his hair.

"S'plenty of time." He husks, voice thick with arousal. "Quit worrying."

"But-"

He growls, grabs her hips to rock her against him. Stars erupt behind her eyes, and his groan mingles with hers as she feels her knees start to buckle. Fumbling behind her, Kate catches the cool edge of the sink, and Castle boosts her up onto it, hands heavy at her thighs.

He slides neatly into the vee of her legs, and she reaches out, drawing his lips back onto hers. Cupping her face, Castle works diligently at her mouth as she focuses her attention on the top button of his dress shirt. He presses a kiss to the underside of her jaw, scrapes his teeth along the contour and up to her ear. She's just getting to the last button when a sudden buzzing sends them both startling, and her fingers skitter across the disc.

"Shit." She laughs breathlessly, learning her forehead against the side of his head.

"That's one word for it."

She groans. "Castle. Just check your phone. Could be important."

"More important than-"

"_Yes._"

He sighs dramatically, reaching into his pocket to fish out his phone, his head still resting against hers. Thumbing the screen, he peers at the contents of the text.

She can't make out any of the text from this angle, so his laugh, a startled and pleased sound, catches Kate off guard.

"What? What is it?"

Grinning, he turns the phone so that she can see it.

The text is from Alexis, and contains only two short sentences:

_Forget what I said about siblings. Hurry it up, will you?_

* * *

_**Thoughts?**  
_


End file.
